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Paonia toddler missing since March; family asks for help

Shantelle Bogard has been missing from her Paonia home since March 6. Her father, Jason, is suspected of taking the girl because he was estranged from Shantelle’s mother, Sierra Bogard.

By {screen_name}
Saturday, December 18, 2010

After the latest episode of abuse, after the latest allegations of infidelity, Sierra Bogard decided she’d had enough.

On March 6, the 23-year-old Paonia woman told her husband of five years, Jason, that she was done. She wanted a divorce. He called the next day and asked to talk to her, but she resisted. She told him he could spend some time with their 3-year-old daughter, Shantelle, then drop her off at a friend’s house in Delta so Sierra Bogard could pick her up.

The father and daughter never arrived.

Sierra Bogard and her family and law enforcement believe 26-year-old Jason Bogard kidnapped Shantelle. They have posted pictures of Shantelle across the Western Slope, but nine months later, there’s been little or no sign of them.

“It’s very hard, and it concerns me a lot,” Sierra Bogard said. “I don’t know if he’s taking care of her, I don’t know if he’s feeding her, keeping her bathed and clothed and things like that.”

Sierra Bogard said she tried to call her husband, from whom she was estranged at the time of the kidnapping, but he wouldn’t answer. She notified the Paonia Police Department about what happened, but officers there told her they couldn’t issue an Amber Alert or take any other action until she obtained custody of Shantelle.

Sierra Bogard finalized her divorce and obtained full permanent custody of Shantelle on the same day: July 28. Since then, the Delta County Sheriff’s Department, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children have gotten involved in the case. Shantelle’s picture is featured on the national center’s website.

A Delta County Sheriff’s Department lieutenant confirmed Friday that the department has been assisting with the case but referred questions to Sheriff Fred McKee and Undersheriff Mark Taylor, who were out of the office Friday and couldn’t be reached for comment.

With the help of family and friends, Sierra Bogard and her mother, Kathy Greer, have posted fliers in western Colorado communities stretching from Naturita to Craig. Greer and her daughter paid a Grand Junction private investigator $3,500 to spend two months trying to track down Jason Bogard, but he turned up nothing, and the mother and daughter say they couldn’t afford to pay him any more.

.The outgoing girl who bears a resemblance to the animated television character Dora the Explorer isn’t any closer to being with her mother than she was when she first vanished.

“Sierra is very concerned. We’re both concerned,” Greer said. “I can’t tell you what we’ve been through in the last nine months. It’s been horrible.”